A Long and Dangerous Road: How Funders Can Respond to the Surge of Unaccompanied Children Migrating to the United States

Cosponsored by Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees; Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families; Hispanics in Philanthropy; and the International Human Rights Funders Group.

As recent press accounts have revealed, thousands of children are making the dangerous journey north from Central America and Mexico without a parent or guardian. The number of unaccompanied immigrant children migrating to the United States has increased dramatically in recent years, jumping from 6,000 in 2011 to an anticipated 80,000 to 120,000 new arrivals in 2014. A complex array of federal agencies handles the care and custody of the children once they arrive in the United States, as well as the adjudication of their immigration claims. This webinar discussed the growing humanitarian crisis and the role funders can play in responding to the needs of unaccompanied immigrant children who are being cared for in communities across the country. Visit Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees’ resource page on unaccompanied immigrant children to read more about this topic. Speakers included: Daranee Petsod of Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, Aryah Somers of The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and Maria Woltjen of The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. The call was moderated by Tara Magner of the MacArthur Foundation.